Documentary to be filmed about Yin Tale tribe

Source : Myanmar TimesView Count : 912Jun 27, 2019

The Ministry of Ethnic Affairs will make a documentary about a tribe in danger of extinction, the Yin Tale in Kayah State, according to a directive from the State Counsellor, said U Min Aye Ko, director general of the ministry.

“We are filming this year about the Yin Tale tribe, near Mae Se in Kayah. We’ll document its language, literature and traditions,” he said on Monday, adding that the tribe’s population is just 1000.

The Yin Tale, also known as the Pyan Ta Lain, has the smallest population of all the tribes in Kayah, with only about 60 villages left, according to the Kandayawadi Times newspaper. Its people grow and eat mainly sesame and maize in the forests and rely on the Than Lwin River, so they are worried about dams being built on the river, it added.

A similar documentary was filmed last year about the Hta Nou tribe in Taunggyi township in Shan State.

The ministry will also film a documentary about the Enng tribe near Kyaingtong in Shan.

Describing the Enng, U Min Aye Ko said, “They are similar to the Akha tribe.”

They have about 80 houses in three villages with 1615 people, including 829 males and 786 females.

The ministry also wants to make a film about the Thet or Sak tribe in Rakhine State, but it needs stability to return to the area before it can make the documentary, he said.

There are 135 ethnic tribes in Myanmar, of which some have almost disappeared, so the ministry wants to make documentary films about their cultures, traditions, languages and literature. – Translated